Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad (Assassin's Creed)

[CadetTK2386]

I’ve wanted to do an Altair for a while, so after years of researching and lurking and gathering references, I’ve finally taken the plunge and started.

I like to take a “realistic” approach to costumes. (For example, my Link, from Legend of Zelda, use suede for the Tunic and all hand tooled and dyed leather for the belts and gear.) For Altair, I did a lot of research on what fabrics would have actually been like in the Holy Land in this time period, and decided on Linen for all of the soft goods. I figure, if it's good enough for the SCA, it's good enough for me. I am using 6 oz leather for all of the leather on the costume, aside from the two blue pouches, which I made out of some scrap suede I had around.

At this point, I have everything patterned out, and am beginning primary construction.

I did sort of cheat on the gloves. I got some leather gardening gloves and cut the fingers off:

Here is the pattern I made for the blue pouch, as well as one finished pouch and one in progress:

Rough pattern for the abdominal armor, along with the two completed blue pouches:

Finished right glove and the armor panels for the left vambrace. The pattern for the armor panels was drawn onto styrene plastic and then dremeled out by hand:

Inner tunic and pants out of Linen. The bottom edge of the inner tunic as boning in the bottom of the “flaps” to help them keep their shape, as well as weights in the bottom corners to help the “flaps” hang down properly.

 

[CadetTK2386]

Had a bit of inspiration randomly was the two belts tubes for Altair. I ended up making them out of M&M Candy tubes and wooden dowel caps from Hobby Lobby:




Doing the boots similar to the officially licensed boots, a sort of Gator on top and the bottom will be modified shoes (Those aren't the shoes I will be using):


Left Vambrace and Glove:

 

[Nibenon]

The effort you're putting into it is very admirable! I've only been experimenting with leather before I complete my Connor outfit; definitely following your progress.

 

[CadetTK2386]

Just some little updates, added "belt loops" to all the gear for the back of the Abdominal armor. The two blue pouches are connected to the same belt loop so they can stay lined up. I put everything on belt loops, rather than permanently attaching to the armor so they I can have some adjustment in the belt.


Also got the chest triangle carved out, paint, and rings attached.

 

[CadetTK2386]

Always nice to have a conversation with myself on this website.

I decided to attach the upper "flaps" to the red sash, so that they would always be in position:




Also started working on the scabbard attachment system to the abdominal armor. Also pictured is the short sword made out of EVA foam, sealed with Plasti-Dip, and painted with Acrylics. This was my first time working with EVA foam floor mats for a prop.


And modifying a pair of commercial boots by adding in leather panels to make them appear closer to the in game boots.

 

[Denton]

Wow! Looking fantastic mate. Always liked him much more then Ezio,and the less said about the latest game the better.

I'll be watching this one closely to see how it turns out Keep up the good work :thumbup:

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2

 

[laxman09]

this is looking good, has really great potential. One thing i ask of you though, is to PLEASE do the hood right! so many people make it look awkward, stiff and unproportional, rather than fitting, flexible and correctly shaped

the hood is the one thing that seems to make or break these costumes in my opinion!

 

[CadetTK2386]

this is looking good, has really great potential. One thing i ask of you though, is to PLEASE do the hood right! so many people make it look awkward, stiff and unproportional, rather than fitting, flexible and correctly shaped

the hood is the one thing that seems to make or break these costumes in my opinion!

The hood will be made out of the same linen as the outer tunic, with a lining of a linen that is just a shade darker than the outer white linen to help add the "shadow" effect, with flexible plastic boning sewn into the hem around the rim to help hold the shape of the hood. We've already been through two muslin fabric mock ups working on getting the shape as close to the game model as possible.

 

[CadetTK2386]

Little more progress. Shoulder belts and pad, Short and Long sword sheaths.

 

[Teabag]

It's all coming together very nicely. Great job so far!

 

[Drac]

Liking this so far :thumbsup look forward to seeing it finished :cool

 

[VelaNoon]

The sword sheaths look awesome! When do you think you'll get working on the coat?

 

[CadetTK2386]

The sword sheaths look awesome! When do you think you'll get working on the coat?

You can see the under tunic in the last picture of the first post. It's with my seamstress friend now. She's putting the final touches on it, sewing up the front and adding the detail around the arm holes. (We trade costume parts, she makes the soft goods and I do armor and props.)

 

[VelaNoon]

Ah, I see. So you are making something for her in return?

 

[Surrylda]

Great build so far! With your veg tanned leather pieces the easiest way to get a consistent non streaky solid color with minimal tools & dye usage for me has been to get yourself a fine spray bottle from Hobby Lobby (normally in the paint section), dilute half to 3/4 rubbing alcohol to dye ratio & spray on. Repeat as many times as needed to get the color you're looking for without streaks. Don't let the dye pool or you'll have the same issue. Or if you don't want to do the spray bottle route then you can take straight rubbing alcohol & partially saturate the piece before adding the dye. It works like it would with watercolors. Try it out on a few scraps. That trick will also help dye pool in tooled areas.

Really nice work!

 

[Surrylda]

Great build so far! With your veg tanned leather pieces the easiest way to get a consistent non streaky solid color with minimal tools & dye usage for me has been to get yourself a fine spray bottle from Hobby Lobby (normally in the paint section), dilute half to 3/4 rubbing alcohol to dye ratio & spray on. Repeat as many times as needed to get the color you're looking for without streaks. Don't let the dye pool or you'll have the same issue. Or if you don't want to do the spray bottle route then you can take straight rubbing alcohol & partially saturate the piece before adding the dye. It works like it would with watercolors. Try it out on a few scraps. That trick will also help dye pool in tooled areas.

Really nice work!

 

[CadetTK2386]

Ah, I see. So you are making something for her in return?

Already made it:

 

[VelaNoon]

Awesome! I don't know if it is just me, but I think it is nice that crafters with different specialities can help each other out.

 

[CadetTK2386]

Okay, let's see if GIFs work on this board:

 

[CadetTK2386]

Oh hey, GIFs do work, that's kind of cool.
Here's some more pictures of the hidden blade, although, interest seems to be...none in this costume.
The Hidden Blade was a collaboration project between myself and my cousin.
It breaks down basically into a plastic box that houses the blade and the catch, covered in metal, with metal eyelets, and a cast resin blade. The catch release is attached to a ring that fits over my finger. I pull back on the string, pops the catch, and the blade slides out.